I’m really stressed out and not confident in myself. I just want to know where I have an actual chance of getting in. My dream is RIT, but it’s such a good school and I’m so nervous. Where am I really certain to get into?
Region (examples: New England, Mid-Atlantic, South): Northeast, think Pennsylvania/New York/New Jersey, as well as the West Coast (ideally in California.
Rural/suburban/urban: Urban ideally, although a large campus supercedes this entirely. If there’s a “college town” vibe to the surrounding area, I’m down.
Major/desired field of work: Computer Science and/or Aerospace Engineering
Size of school: 5k+
Research-oriented or teaching-oriented (similar to 4): I’m not 100% sure what this is asking, honestly.
Social organization (Pton eating clubs vs Vandy Greek vs Yale res colleges, etc): Not sure here either.
Social culture: As long as it’s accepting of LGBT peeps, I’m happy.
Academic culture (examples: competitiveness, preprofessionalism, collaboration, learning for learning’s sake, study abroad participation rate): I would like there to be a degree of healthy competitiveness. I don’t want to go somewhere where I’ll feel like ■■■■ for taking it easy sometimes, but also not where I’m the only one who cares.
Selectiveness: are you looking for safeties, matches, or reaches?: Safeties and matches, honestly.
Do you/does your family need a lot of financial/merit aid?: A lot, yes. My dad doesn’t really work anymore (he’s a freelance non-profit photographer), and for reasons I can get into if you want, I’ll be filing as an independent from my second year onwards, whether that’s through making a claim of abuse/effective homelessness (my parents won’t be supporting me in any way whatsoever, including housing and food), or filing for emancipation.
Public vs private: Makes no difference. What matters is price point. If what I said just prior to this doesn’t make it clear, I’ll be super strapped for cash. As a side-note, my state of residence is Pennsylvania.
Promotion of/open to a certain identity (when applicable): I’m a bisexual, transwoman, Bangladeshi American.
Other things:
GPA: 3.522
SAT score: 1410 (690/720)
Class Transcript of past 3 years: https://i.■■■■■■■■■/5LlP5Cf.png
Extracurriculars: Quizbowl (5 years), School Newspaper (1 year), GSA (2 years), CS Club (1 year)